Brailsford commits to British Cycling toward Rio Olympics

Dave Brailsford has overseen British Cycling's rise and will stay with the national team to Rio in 2016. Photo: Graham Watson | www.grahamwatson.com

GLASGOW (AFP) — Dave Brailsford, the man behind the British cycling team’s run of gold medal success at the Beijing and London Olympics, has vowed to continue in his post until the 2016 Games in Rio.

In addition to serving as British Cycling’s performance director, the 48-year-old Brailsford is also the principal of Team Sky, in which capacity he oversaw Bradley Wiggins becoming the first British winner of the Tour de France earlier this year.

But Brailsford, who helped guide the British cycling team to eight golds in London this year, insisted he still had Olympic ambitions.

“I’m not sure that I was ever going to let go and walk away (completely),” said Brailsford, following the Track World Cup in Glasgow. “In my mind I like to think that there was a safety valve where you can just go ‘Okay, let’s look at where we are going.’

Brailsford said he doesn’t want to see Britain fall off after back-to-back successful Olympics, including its home Games in July and August.

“We might structure it slightly differently, we might think about longer-term succession planning,” he said. “I’d like to think we’re building something which is sustainable; coming up to Rio if I just disappeared off sideways nobody would really notice and it would just carry on.”

Brailsford added enthusiasm was key to his role, saying: “If I wake up and I’m not motivated, I’m not excited by it, I will step aside, because somebody else should be doing it.”